| From 1990 on, there were meetings for confession and self-criticism that filled up all the space left for sentimental relationships: any militant feeling any attraction for the wife of a comrade had to apologise to her in public. |
A Sect of Iron
In 1993, the PMOI responded to the American Government, in substance, that an organization is known by its results. Let us see:
“We know, from the history of national liberation movements, that one can logically and scientifically see social and historical trends, which a political movement can only give its society what it already has. You can only believe in the promise of democracy in tomorrow‘s Iran f the internal relations of the opposition are democratic today”. 1
Now, it is precisely the internal relations of the PMOI that have no democratic content at all. The base must shut up, obey orders and, above all, not think for itself.
The weekly Marianne is very clear:
- “Massoud Rajavi and Bani Sadr took refuge in France and set up a National Council of Resistance. In Auvers-sur-Oise, where he chose to live with his brother, Massoud, leading the scraps of his organization, continues to work for the destabilization of the Islamist regime, and, by remote control, directs new terrorist attacks, proclaiming that ‘the end justifies the means’.” An iron discipline reigns within the movement. All dissent is severely punished.
The mystico-religious language, a sort of cocktail of Allah, Marx and the others, belongs more to the talk of a sect than to the speeches of a political movement. Doesn’t Rajavi see himself as the Mahdi, the hidden twelfth imam of Shi’ia martyrdom? This collective detour leads to blackmailing the dead, to an intensified cult of violence against the enemy, all the while proclaiming respect for human rights and the virtues of democracy.
Representative of God on Earth, Rajavi is the guru, married after two divorces to Maryam Azdanlou, the super militant, once wed to the organization's “Number 4”. Even the abandoned husband congratulated the newly weds. A crazy universe.” 2
This was indeed a crazy universe, but a real one with tight rules and terrible duties. Above all, it was prohibited to criticize the wisdom of the hierarchy or the decisions it took. Wishing to be omniscient, Rajavi was also omnipotent. He stopped at nothing to ensure the loyalty of his troops and keep a continuous control over their minds. The militants in the Iraqi camps had, for example, to write down all their daily activities, note their thoughts and most intimate feelings. In some cases, they would have to undergo a very severe session of self-criticism:
“From 1990 on, there were meetings for confession and self-criticism that filled up all the space left for sentimental relationships: any militant feeling any attraction for the wife of a comrade had to apologise to her in public. These sessions of confession were duly recorded on video and kept in the archives of the movement’s HQ”. 3
The technique — tested in North Vietnamese prison camps where the Communists “brainwashed” French POWs — is laid out clearly in the Little Red Book: “Criticism inside the Party is a weapon which helps reinforce the Party’s organization and increase its combat capacities”. 4
1.- “Democracy Betrayed”, op. cit.
2.- “Iran, les Moudjahidin du peuple fous de Dieu... et de Marx”, op. cit.
3.- lsmail Zayer, op. cit.
4.- “The Elimination of Erroneous Ideas in the Party”, December